The City of Sorrow
by aresrat
Summary: Desires of revenge and peace mix in Port Charles, NY in the sequel to The Man Behind the Mask. Second in the trilogy.
1. Chapter 1

Pain. That is all. Nothing else matters in the world except for the pain, the aching feeling of an absence that will never be filled. Along with the regret of past choices.

Sonny Corinthos sat on a couch in his living room, tears in his eyes and on his face, in his dimples. **Morgan Corinthos October 24, 1993-November 30, 2014**, read the front page of the funeral program. Sonny had flipped through the program, looking at pictures of his baby boy dozens, if not hundreds, of times, in the past two months worth of nights.

How could he let this happen? He blamed himself, and although no one he loved said it to him (except for their initial reactions, where everyone blamed him), he knew they blamed him too. Decades ago, he'd chosen this life. Now, the woman he loved and two of his children were dead.

"Boss, someone here to see you." He didn't even hear the door open when one of his guards opened the door.

He wiped the tears away and sat the program down. "I don't want any visitors."

"Not even me?" The woman who walked in looked exactly the same as Sonny remembered her. Ava Jerome was dressed in all black, with the exception of red lipstick. However, her eyes didn't tell the story of her usual snarky self, but rather sorrow.

Sonny said nothing.

"Well, aren't you going to say something?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Ava gulped. "I'm here for Morgan."

"Stop right there." said Sonny as he pulled out his gun. "Don't you EVER mention his name. You don't deserve to, after what you put him through when you ran off."

"You know very well why I ran off!" she said, getting defensive. "And I loved Morgan. I still love him."

Sonny changed the subject. "Last I recalled, I said that after you delivered the baby, you were dead." He motioned toward her stomach. "Looks like your part is over. So you've come to surrender and die peacefully?"

"Sonny I think you're forgetting that although I did deliver, I did not bring the baby with me because of what you're doing right now. So, go ahead; kill me. But then you'll never see her."

He inched the gun down. "Her?"

"Yes," Ava replied, beaming, "a few weeks ago, I delivered a healthy baby girl in New Orleans. That's where I ran to."

The gun was back in Sonny's waistband now. "Really? What's she like? Have you been taking good care of her?"

"Of course I've been taking care of her. She's my daughter. And she acts alot like him. Which I guess means she acts alot like you. Stubborn as the winter is bitter."

"What's her name?"

Ava smiled even wider. "Maura Katherine Corinthos. I figured I could just go ahead and give her the Corinthos name because no matter who the father was-"

"About that...why didn't you bring her back so we could do the paternity test?"

Ava's smile was replaced with a look of pain and tears started to well up in her eyes. "Because I'm afraid that he won't be the father. And then he'll truly be gone."

"I want to meet her." Sonny said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Ava wiped hers too. "Under two conditions. I want your word that you won't kill me. And, I want to help avenge Morgan."

"I don't trust you."

"The feeling's mutual, but we both loved Morgan." She walked up to him so that she was in his face. "EJ DiMera needs to pay for what he took from us. What he took from Maura. And not the PCPD way or the FBI way or the WSB way. He needs to pay our way."

She extended her hand. "What do you say?"


	2. Chapter 2

**For two months, he'd lay at rest in the coma. He'd been found the day EJ escaped. After all the pieces were put together, it wasn't that hard to figure out where he would be if he were alive. Commissioner Devane herself, along with Detectives Falconeri and West, and some uniforms, had stormed Miscavige determined to find him. Every single room was checked until Luke Spencer was found, shaven, broken and incapacitated. **

**And that's how he'd stayed since then. Doctors had no idea what he'd been given to make him this way. They had no idea if he'd even ever wake up.**

**Lulu Spencer-Faloneri wouldn't hear it though. She'd learned of her pregnancy a few weeks after her dad had been found, and now, four months along, there was no way she would allow Luke to die before meeting her two little ones. **

**"****Hey, Dad." she spoke in almost a whisper as she grabbed her father's hand. "I know you can hear me. They say that comatose patients can hear the world around them. So, you listen up. You have to come back to us, because your grandkids need you. I need you."**

**"****We all need him." Lulu hadn't even heard the door open or see her big brother, Lucky come in. He'd come back to town as soon as he'd heard about Luke. After three years of humanitarian work, he decided that he was needed at home.**

**Lulu got up and hugged her brother. "Lulu, you need to go home and rest. You have two babies to think about."**

**"****I will," she responded, as she returned to her post next to her dad, "just later." **

**Lucky knew there was no use pushing the issue. Daddy's little princess wasn't going anywhere; so he changed the subject. "I just don't understand how this could happen! Ok, so DiMera hates Sonny. Who doesn't? But why Dad?"**

**"****Well, wondering won't do anyone any good, Lucky."**

**He let out a deep breath. "I know...it's just that all this waiting around for nothing is driving me crazy. I want DiMera, and his father, to pay for everything they've done."**

**"****We all do."**

**Dante Falconeri entered the room**

**"****Is there an update?" Lulu piped.**

**"****Last time I heard, no." Dante responded. "But on my way up here I did spot the Commissioner with some lady I don't know, so maybe something's going on."**

**At that moment, there was a knock on the door, before Anna Devane let herself into the room, followed by a brunette who was short in stature and obviously in law enforcement.**

**It was Lucky who spoke up. "Commissioner, is there any news on DiMera?"**


	3. Chapter 3

**"****Sonny, EJ DiMera needs to die." **

**At half past nine in the morning, Sonny looked up from his eggs and toast to see his ex-wife, Carly Corinthos, staring down at him.**

**"****Excuse me." he responded, taking a sip of coffee.**

**"****You heard me. EJ DiMera killed our son, so now it's his turn to go."**

**Sonny got up from his breakfast. "I think you should calm down. I don't know if you remember this, but things didn't go so well the last time you tried to have someone killed."**

**"****Don't patronize me, Sonny!"**

**He put up his hands in surrender. "I'm asking you to stay out of it, Carly."**

**"****Excuse me!" she exclaimed. "This is my son we're talking about. You can't just expect me to stay out of it, unless...unless, you've already got something in the works?" It was more a statement than a question.**

**Sonny smirked for the first time in months. "Let's just say that EJ DiMera, and Stefano, are going to get what's coming to them."**

**"****Oh, Sonny, it's great that you're awake. So, we can start on our plan right away." Ava said as she came down the stairs before stopping dead in her tracks at the sight of Carly.**

**"****What the hell is she doing here?" Carly demanded of her ex-husband.**

**"****Carly," Ava began to explain, "I mean no harm. I am an ally."**

**"****Yeah, to the Devil." Carly retorted.**

**Sonny decided not to let the two go at it. "It's ok, Carly. We all have a common goal. We all want to see DiMera in the ground."**

**"****Last time I checked, you also wanted her in the ground. And look, no baby!"**

**"****Really Carly, is that how you're going to treat the mother of your potential granddaughter?"**

**"****Don't throw that...Wait. Did you say granddaughter?"**

**Sonny grabbed his suit jacket off the sofa and headed out the door. "Whatever. If you two want to tear each other apart or bond over the baby, be my guest. Just don't get any blood on my carpet or furniture."**


	4. Chapter 4

**Graveyards had never been Alexis Davis' favorite place, nor anyone elses, but the Port Charles Cemetery had become a second home of sorts for her ever since Julian's funeral. In fact, she visited his grave an average of three times a week, sometimes more, rarely less. **

**On this early morning of the opening day of February, she sat cross legged, bundled in a heavy coat in front of his tombstone. **

**"****Hey, Julian," she said with a smile. She always smiled when she visited his grave. It was the place where she felt closest to him. "I just wanted to come by and let you know how everyone's doing.**

**"****Sam and Patrick are still going strong. Things were rocky for a bit when he told her that Jason had been alive, but, with some help from me, she was able to forgive him. Danny might start school a year early. It seems he's really got a brain on him. I don't really talk to Lucas much, but he's doing good."**

**Next, Alexis did something that would seem crazy to anyone who saw, but she'd done countless times before. She laid down on Julian's grave, directly aligned to where the casket, and his body, would be.**

**"****I love you, Julian," she whispered, appearing to talk to the ground itself, "but I have to do something I know you would disapprove of me doing. I'm going to kill EJ DiMera."**


	5. Chapter 5

**Rome, Italy, like most of Europe, suited EJ DiMera just right. Good food. Good drinks. And, most importantly, sexy women. At the moment, though, women were the last thing on his mind.**

**"****...and you understand the assignment?" he asked the person he was on the phone with. "This is very important. I want Corinthos to suffer before I end him...Ok, I can pay that...Call me when it's done."**

**"****Are you sure about this?" Stefano asked after he hung up the phone. **

**"****You know bloody well that I'm sure."**

**Stefano sat down his glass of wine. "Elvis, when will this vendetta against Sonny end?"**

**"****When he is dead." EJ responded, his voice full of spite.**

**"****Well, why don't you just kill him?"**

**"****Oh, I will, but not before this. Soon, though, soon I'll end it."**

**It was silent for a moment before Stefano spoke. "It was very gracious of our cousin Victor to put us up in a WSB safe house."**

**"****Of course; the Cassadines, with the exception of a few bad seeds, have always been loyal cousins. They know what it means to be family.."**

**"****Yes." Stefano agreed. "Although, seeing and speaking with Victor is like meeting a ghost. He appears so much like Antony."**

**"****Father," EJ said, breaking the line of conversation, "I need to know that you have my back with the Corinthos situation."**

**"****Of course I have your back, Elvis." **

**EJ's face remained solid. "Good." he paused for a few seconds. "This is about to get messy."**


	6. Chapter 6

**"****There are no leads." Anna was disappointed in the report herself. Her and countless other officers had pulled several all nighters trying to uncover where the DiMeras could've run off to. There had been several false leads, but at the moment, it all looked like the investigation was at a dead end.**

**"****Who is this?" Dante asked, gesturing toward the woman who'd come in with Anna.**

**"****This is Detective Hope Brady from the Salem Police Department." She said as Hope stepped forward to shake hands. "She is heading the investigation in Salem."**

**"****EJ is married to my niece." said Hope. "I'm so sorry this happened. No one in Salem saw this coming. In fact, my niece is devastated and depressed. Their kids still haven't been told what's happening."**

**"****So, where do they think their dad is?" Lucky asked.**

**"****On a business trip. It's all we can do to hope they don't find out from someone at school or accidentally see it in a newspaper or on TV."**

**"****Excuse me, while I feel sorry for his kids, my own kids lost an uncle and I lost a brother!" Dante exclaimed. "And you're telling me that there are no leads?"**

**"****I'm sorry, Detective," said Anna, "but we're trying the best we can."**

**"****Well, try harder."**

**Hope stepped in front of Anna. "We've exhausted every possible avenue." she explained. "I know it's difficult to sit back and wait, but the DiMeras have an unlimited amount of resources. They could be anywhere, getting help from anyone."**

**"****Maybe they're getting help from someone in law enforcement." Lulu suggested.**


	7. Chapter 7

The Corinthos Coffee wing of the Metro Court hotel hadn't been very active as of late, but now, determined to hunt EJ DiMera down, Sonny wanted to change that.

"What do you have for me?" Sonny asked Shawn Butler as he entered the room.

Shawn gestured for someone else to enter the room as well. "Sonny, this is Cherry."

Cherry was about five and a half feet tall, skinny and, from her outfit, could only be assumed to be a prostitute, or somewhere in that family of occupations. Sonny got up to shake her hand anyway; she appeared somewhat intimidated and didn't offer her hand.

"Cherry is a dancer at the club down on seventeenth." Shawn explained.

Sonny was confused. "Ok, but what does se have to do with anything?"

Shawn gestured for her to speak. "Um, the guy you're looking for, AJ, BJ-"

"EJ?" Sonny corrected.

"Yeah, him. I, um, had a run in with him a couple months ago, the day he escaped from the police."

"What kind of a run in?" Sonny pressed.

Cherry was hesitant. "Well, he came into the club one day and went to Larry's, that's my boss, office."

"You know what they talked about?

"Um, no, but after they came from the office, the man you're looking for looked at me and pointed, and then he just went to a back room."

"What'd he want?"

"Well, Larry walked over to me and said I had to go entertain his guest, that he was a very important man."

"He meant sex?" Sonny inquired.

"Yeah." Cherry admitted with a look of shame. "And I didn't really have a choice, or I would've been fired."

"Ok; I'm sorry you had to do that, but what does this have to do to with me?"

"Right after we were finished, he got up and started putting on his clothes. Said he had a flight to catch, to southern Europe."

A light bulb clicked in Sonny's head. "You've been a great help." Sonny said. "In fact, let me give you something for your troubles." He then went to his safe, which was now behind his desk thanks to the Delia incident, and got ten thousand dollars.

"Oh, thank you so much," she said when he handed it to her.

"You can leave now." Sonny said when she didn't move. That sent her away. "Southern Europe, Shawn."

"So I heard."

"You know what that means, don't you?"

Shawn shrugged. "Well, geography wasn't my best subject."

"The son of a bitch is in Italy!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Everyone looked at Lulu. **

**"****What?" she asked. "It is plausible."**

**"****Well, Stefano is known to have officers on his payroll." Hope offered.**

**"****What the hell is going on?" Everyone looked at one another to see who'd spoken, but no one owned it. Then they realized why.**

**"****Is anyone going to answer me?" Luke spoke as clear as if he hadn't been in a coma at all.**

**"****Daddy!" Lulu exclaimed as she threw herself on her father. Everyone else went to him as well.**

**"****Daddy?" he asked, confused. "Who the hell are you? Who the hell are any of you?"**

**"****Luke," Anna said, "it's me, Anna Devane. You've been in a coma for two months, possibly longer. It's natural to be confused."**

**"****Who's Luke?" he asked. "My name is Ryan Brady, and I want to speak with my brother, Stefano DiMera!"**


	9. Chapter 9

The target was having breakfast with a girl his age, possibly his girlfriend. They were at a restaurant named Kelly's. The sniper trained his crosshairs on the target, took a few breaths, and then fired.

Michael Corinthos III fell backwards with a bullet in his head as those around him ducked for cover, and Kiki Jerome just screamed.

**The End of Part 2**


End file.
